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Hackers/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby Tim is on his laptop. An image appears on his screen of Moby dressed as a pirate. Text reads: The dread pirate Moby has assumed control. The image of Moby laughs. MOBY: Beep. Beep. Tim looks to his side. The real Moby is seated next to him. A USB cord connects Moby's head to Tim's laptop. Tim is furious. TIM: Stop that. Tim pulls the USB cord from a port on the side of Moby's head. An e-mail alert sounds on Tim's laptop. Tim reads from a typed e-mail. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, our parents are always warning us about computer hackers; but we heard they're not all bad. Can you clear things up for us? From, Noam and Shai. Hey, guys. Tim shuts his laptop. TIM: I totally understand your confusion. People often use the word "hackers" to refer to criminals. An image shows a person in black approaching a desktop computer in a dark room. TIM: They break through security systems that protect computer networks. The person in black breaks into the desktop computer's security system. He smiles an evil smile. TIM: But among computer programmers, "hacker" has other meanings. To some, it's a badge of honor that signals you're an expert coder. An image shows a young girl standing on a stage holding a trophy. A banner above her reads: Hack_athon. TIM: That's actually the original definition of the term. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Back in the 1950s, computers weren't something the average person ever used. They were for government agencies, businesses, stuff like that. An animation shows a room filled with large, 1950s-style computers. A lab technician watches a printer print data on a roll of paper. TIM: People used these giant machines mainly to save themselves the trouble of doing a lot of complicated math. A computer might help a biologist calculate the volume of a cell or a car company predict sales in the coming year. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, I wouldn't say boring stuff, just very technical and specific. Young programmers knew that computers could be much more than expensive calculators. MOBY: Beep. An animation shows a young computer programmer standing in a roomful of large 1950s-style computers. A thought balloon shows that the programmer is having an idea. TIM: Many of these dreamers attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the world. An image shows the main building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, campus. TIM: In 1959, the school offered its very first class in computer programming. An animation shows three young programmers opening a computer lab's door and looking shocked. TIM: But most students weren't supposed to use, or even touch, the school's computers. The programmers look inside the computer lab. A security guard is asleep at the computer's control panel. TIM: After all, they were multimillion-dollar machines. The security guard wakes up and walks to the programmers. He holds out a sign that reads "Private. Authorized Entry Only." TIM: Instead, they had to submit programs to authorized users, then wait days or weeks to get results. An animation shows a programmer placing his program in the slot of a submission box attached to a wall. The programmer stands and waits at the box and, over time, ages and decomposes into a skeleton covered with cobwebs. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Right. They wanted to get their hands on the actual machinery. So they had to be a bit sneaky. Working while others slept, they'd invent new programs just to see what the computers could do. An animation shows a programmer rolling the sleeping security guard out of the way. A second programmer stations himself at the computer system's control panel. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Like, one converted regular numbers to Roman numerals. An animation shows a computer screen. The number 999 is entered in Arabic numbers. The computer converts the number to the Roman numeral CMXCIX. TIM: Another made a computer beep a classic melody by Bach. Older students said they were just goofing around, but these guys had another word for it, "hacking". An animation shows a programmer demonstrating the program Tim describes. A professor stands next to the computer and listens, then walks away with a frown. TIM: To them, it meant spending hour upon hour refining code. Making a program as efficient as possible was like a secret art form that only they appreciated. An animation shows two young programmers writing code in the MIT computer lab. TIM: And, in 1961, they pulled off their masterpiece. The computer screen glows, shining light on the faces of the two programmers. MOBY: Beep. TIM: The school had acquired a PDP-1, a super-advanced computer. An animation shows a professor standing next to the computer Tim describes. TIM: It had a graphic display that was a huge leap forward. But it was only being used to generate random shapes. An animation shows the graphic display Tim describes. The screen shows an array of dots arranged within a square. A rectangle and two triangles form from the array. TIM: MIT's hackers thought it would be even cooler if the shapes interacted. The professor walks away from the PDP-1 computer, and two young programmers sneak in and start working with it. TIM: So they coded the world's first shoot 'em up game, Spacewar! Two players piloted spaceships in a deadly duel around a star. An animation shows a computer game on the PDP-1 screen. There is an image of a star in the center of the screen. Two rocket shapes move around the screen, shooting at each other. TIM: The programmers shared their code with people at other schools. An animation shows two programmers at the California Institute of Technology receiving a package in the mail. It contains the Spacewar! code from the MIT programmers. TIM: Soon, students around the country weren't just playing Spacewar!; they were tweaking its code to add stuff like cloaking devices and new weapons. An animation shows two programmers playing a more advanced version of Spacewar!. TIM: Eventually, the game came pre-loaded on all PDP-1s. Technicians would run Spacewar! to make sure new machines were working properly. An animation shows a technician with a row of PDP-1 computer screens, all of which are displaying Spacewar! MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, no. The programmers didn't get paid for it. They were just psyched to make computers do exactly what they wanted. Spacewar! could never have been programmed the old way. An animation shows a professor and a programmer playing a computer game together. Both are smiling. The professor wins and makes a gesture of victory. TIM: It was a process of exploration that demanded a hands-on approach. That idea formed the core of what came to be known as the hacker ethic. This code of beliefs spread among tech enthusiasts around the country. An animation shows an early computer screen. Text on the screen reads: "Hacker Ethic. Number one: Access to computers should be unrestricted." After the text appears, locked bars around a PDP-1 game icon disappear. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, access to the physical machines is only the beginning. Hackers love exploring computer systems and seeing how they work. So it was just as important to have access to the code. Additional text on the computer screen reads "Number two: Information wants to be free." An icon representing free computer code appears. TIM: The more restricted a system was, the more they wanted to get in. That's why, in the 1960s the U.S. telephone network became such a popular target. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Back then, it was all wires. Calls were expensive, and the networks were a bit of a mystery. So hackers began to obsessively research them. An animation shows telephone wires running between buildings in a city. A hacker walks by, studying a phone company handbook. TIM: They studied company manuals and even took tours of their offices. Images show phone company manuals and a phone company office building. TIM: They realized the whole system was controlled by electronic tones. Calls were routed based on their pattern and frequencies. An animation shows a landline phone on a small table. Its receiver is off the hook. A hacker is playing tones on a recorder into the phone's mouthpiece. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Phreakers, as they were called, built machines to mimic the tones. With these blue boxes, they could call anyone in the world for free. MOBY: Beep. An animation shows two phreakers using a blue box to make a call with a pay phone. A second animation shows that they are calling the White House. TIM: Uh, no...not legal. Like, at all. Another animation shows President Nixon answering his telephone in the Oval Office. He grumbles at the caller and then slams down the phone. TIM: But guess what the hacker ethic said about that. Big organizations like the phone company were blocking access to code. Text on an early computer screen reads "Number three: Fight the power. An animation of a woman in a hat with the label Ma Bell appears near the PDP-1 logo. The woman holds a stick in one hand and slaps it against her other hand in a threatening way. TIM: Hackers wanted to put more power in the hands of individuals. The animated Ma Bell is surrounded by people holding up phone receivers. Arrows indicate her power is going to the other people as she shrinks. MOBY: Beep. TIM: As they matured, many phreakers got into more productive activities. Several were members of the Homebrew Computer Club. This was a group of techies who tinkered with computer hardware. An animation shows three techies in a basement room filled with electronic equipment and gadgets. TIM: One of them was Apple's co-founder, Steve Wozniak. The animation focuses on one of the techies and identifies him as Steve Wozniak. TIM: Meeting regularly in the early 1970s, the club conceived of the first personal computer. An image shows a primitive-looking personal computer. TIM: They shared their information with the larger community and published a newsletter to help people build their own PCs. An image shows two young people sitting on the floor. They are building a small PC, with the Homebrew Computer Club newsletter pinned up in the background. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep, sharing ideas is another vital part of the hacker ethic. Text on an early computer screen reads "Number four: Collaborate." TIM: Dreaming up an innovation is sometimes the easy part. A collective effort is often required to bring those dreams to life. The early computer screen shows four collaborators creating code together. TIM: That principle also contributed to the next big revolution in computing. MOBY: Beep. TIM: In the 1970s and 80s, the U.S. military was testing out one of the first computer networks. An outline map shows the continental United States. Points and dotted lines represent a primitive nationwide computer network. TIM: ARPANET let machines in different places communicate with each other. The goal was to better coordinate our armed forces in case of war. Images on the map represent military personnel using ARPANET to communicate with one another. TIM: To test the system, they gave limited access to a few universities. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep. To a whole new generation of college hackers, ARPANET was an irresistible prize, a state-of-the-art system to explore, a way to connect with other hackers around the country, and run by the most powerful organization in the world. They imagined many more uses for a network beyond military strategy. An animation shows two hackers examining the ARPANET network on a desktop computer. The Great Seal of the United States appears on the screen. Text on the screen reads "Top Secret, Access Restricted.” The hackers smile at each other. TIM: At MIT, they recoded the whole system to be faster and simpler. They opened up the network so more users could access it at once. By the late 1980s, ARPANET had transformed into the Internet. An animation shows an outline map of the continental United States. A large and complex computer system takes shape. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yep. In a lot of ways, hackers helped build the world we're living in. For better and worse, their values are coded into the systems we all depend on. An animation shows a young person at a laptop computer writing code. TIM: After all, most of us use computers every day. Images show a tablet, a cell phone, and a laptop. Pieces of binary code float around the devices. TIM: Huge amounts of information are freely available on the Web, and that's empowered us all as individuals. MOBY: Beep. Moby smiles. TIM: It can be great, depending on the individuals. Some are inspired by the hacker ethic's focus on creativity. They love exploring systems, seeing how they work, and improving them. Just like those guys at MIT years ago, they're all about the art of programming. At contests called hackathons, they match wits and collaborate on coding problems. An image shows a hackathon. Many young people with laptops are working at tables in a large room.. TIM: But for every positive example of the hacker ethic, there's a negative one. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Some of them code viruses that destroy data and knock out websites. A computer screen depicts a hacker destroying the PDP-1 logo. A black hat appears on screen. TIM: Some steal personal information, like credit cards. A computer screen depicts a hacker stealing data. TIM: These black hats are the bad hackers you often hear about in the news. MOBY: Beep. A timeline indicates that black hat activity began in the 1970s. TIM: Yeah, they're like modern-day phone phreakers, except way more destructive. In response, many organizations hire white hats. They improve security by finding weaknesses in networks. A graphic indicating the first establishment of white hats appears on the timeline. It is a far more recent development. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Between the white and black hats, there's a lot of gray area. Especially when it comes to hackers with political goals. Some of these hacktivists shut down websites run by hate groups and terrorists. An image shows a computer screen. Text on the screen reads "Warning, Broken Website. Sorry, terrorists! We've shut down your site. Maybe try again later." TIM: Some expose the private information of those they don't agree with. In other words, they're vigilantes, people who have taken it on themselves to punish others, outside of the legal system. An animation depicts hacktivists as dark, mysterious figures, tipping the scales of justice. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it's kind of ironic. Those first hackers wanted to take power back from secretive organizations, but look what it's led to. When anyone can take over your computer, it's kind of scary. A cloaked hacker appears behind a computer as skulls and crossbones flash across the screen. A warning alarm goes off on Tim's laptop. He opens it. Pirate Moby swings across the screen on a rope but then falls and breaks. Tim looks over at Moby, who is again connected to Tim's laptop by a USB cord. Tim is furious again. TIM: Not to mention very illegal. Tim sighs. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Engineering & Technology Transcripts